Collecting additional panel data on former special education students in the context of the National Educational Panel Study

Which educational paths are chosen by students with special educational needs when they leave school? Can they make a direct transition to vocational training and who supports them on their way? Can they successfully complete vocational training? How do their competencies develop after school? So far, there are hardly any data about their subsequent educational career.

The main objective of this project is to collect additional data on former students with special educational needs in NEPS Starting Cohort 4–Grade 9–who attended the ninth grade of a special school in the school year of 2010/11. Unfortunately, no reliable longitudinal data on the post-school careers of former students with special educational needs had been available on a nationwide level until now. The limited number of regional or local studies do not provide a basis for comprehensive analyses, and most of these studies lack a sufficient number of cases for quantitative analyses. For the first time, the follow-up study of students with special educational needs in Grade 9 will enable detailed analysis of the vocational and employment histories of these former students with special educational needs.

The contents of the questionnaire focus on institutional and personal support systems, the detailed survey of careers, and the subjective evaluation of the transition after school.